Pilot arrested for drug abuse
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A pilot working for a national airline and two friends were arrested on Wednesday evening for taking shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), city police said on Thursday.
East Jakarta deputy police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hilman said Garuda Indonesia pilot identified as, Johan, 29, and two accomplices identified as Ella and Lukman, were arrested when having a drug party in a house in Berlan, Matraman.
"Actually we suspected that at least six people were involved in the party at the house. However, we could only nab three persons, including Johan. The other three managed to escape," Hilman said.
Police confiscated around 20 grams of shabu-shabu and equipment for using the drug from the three, he said.
Initial investigations showed that Johan was using the drug as guest at the house, while owners Ella and Lukman had bought it.
"We have interrogated them. Ella has admitted that the drug belonged to her. She got the drug from someone in Kampung Ambon in East Jakarta," Hilman said.
Police conducted an operation in the complex after reports from several residents in the neighborhood.
At around 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, police raided the house and arrested the three.
Hilman said initially Johan told police that he was just an employee of an airline company, but when police checked his employee identity card, it was revealed that he was a Garuda pilot.
Johan told police he had just returned from the United States, where he was learning about aviation, he said.
The three suspects were still being questioned at the East Jakarta Police precinct on Thursday afternoon, with police focussing their investigation on the identity of the supplier of the drug.
They are to be charged under Articles 81 and 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on psychotropic drugs. If found guilty they could face a maximum of 15 years in jail.
Many people from all walks of life, including police officers, prosecutors, actors, students, civil servants, have been caught taking or trafficking drugs during the past few months.
The most recent case was the arrest of Cibinong prosecutor Hendra Ruhendra in his apartment in Taman Rasuna, South Jakarta, with more than 200 grams of shabu-shabu.
Earlier, a police officer identified as Adj. Comr. Alijoni was arrested in a drug party in Gunung Sahari, Central Jakarta, while several actors were also nabbed for ecstasy tablets in several raids in discotheques last month.
In April, police arrested the former deputy chairman of the defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Taufik Mappaenre Ma'ruf for possession of 3.1 grams of marijuana at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Cengkareng, Tangerang. Taufik was on his way to Bali for a vacation.